Thursday, January 24, 2008

Time Travel Thoughts

Just a quick thought that kind of harkens back to my very first post a few months back where I speak a bit on time travel.I have had many discussions on the possibilities of a human traveling back in time. I personally don't believe that could ever happen, at least not in the way that we know it. By that I mean, for a person of the 21st century to literally travel back, say, to the colonial times where he could partake in associating with the folks of the era would/could never happen. As the well-worn scenario goes: if one meets up with one's own grandfather as a child and murders said grandfather as a child, how can he be born to go back in time to murder his grandfather?But, can a "time-traveler," instead of physically going back in time and perhaps changing an event, go back and witness an event 'as it happened?' In other words, if I were to travel back to the time of, say, the Civil War, maybe I would be able to watch the Battle of Shilo as it actually occurred but yet not be able to take part in it, for fear of changing history.Or am I going off the deep end here?

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About Me

My wife and I and members of our family practice living history and portray citizens during the era of the American Revolution (1770s) and Civil War (1860s). You'll find us very often at mid-18th or 19th century reenactments doing our best to replicate the eras as accurately as we can in clothing, manners, speech, and other ways in order to bring the past to life.
I believe knowledge has to be the top priority in living history; knowing about the time period you are presenting - absolutely knowing - can make all the difference in how serious you are being taken.
Too many focus solely on clothing...but what I am attempting in this Passion for the Past blog is to help living historians and general history fans to look beyond the obvious - to study life as once lived.
Yes, clothing is important, but it only tells a small part of the story. To give a more complete picture one needs to look at the 18th or 19th century world around them - to put themselves in that world - and then they will be able to develop more fully a presentation of greater interest for not only the general public, but for themselves as well.
I hope you like it.